The day is here! We get to go house hunting to find our new home in Belgium. We have been here for two weeks and our appointment with Nova Relocation is for two days, June 3 and 4. We are very excited to go and explore the houses that are available for us to rent. We will be renting here in Belgium instead of buying. Renting is very common and will also ensure that our Expatriot tax status is not messed up. I think it is possible to purchase a home while we are here, but it is easier to rent, so that is what we are going to do.
Elena told me this morning that she has been praying that the first house we see will be "perfect". She is hoping that we will love the first house we see so much that we will not have to look at any other homes. The girls have not ever been so directly involved with house hunting in the past. When we purchased our home in Alabama, it was just Stig and myself and we brought the girls to their new home that had already been chosen. When we moved to Indiana, Elena was only 4 and Adriana 2; so we left them with grandma and grandpa while we chose our home and then introduced them to their new home after we had chosen it. So having all three girls with me and Stig at work was a very new experience.
We pulled up to the first house, a cute brick home with shutters and striped garage doors. As we walked in this was a very cute and charming house with a curved wooden spindle stair case and an exposed brick wall in the foyer. As we moved along into the family room area the charm continued with wooden beams and a little brick and lime stone fireplace. The family room over looked a deck/terrace that goes all the way across the back of the house and wraps around to the side with a little out door fireplace. It is all very cute and situated on a hill. There is also a charming little "shed" in the back that the girls thought would be the perfect pioneer playhouse for them. There are four bedrooms; each bedroom has it's own sink. That seems a little weird, but could also have its benefits when the girls are teenagers! Then we were off to the kitchen, while it is a bit old, it is still cute if you can look past the formica cabinets. At least these had some wood trim and a nice tile back splash. The really funny part is that everything seems to be in miniature. The counters are only to my waist which is rare, so this seems to be a kitchen built for a munchkin. All of our previous homes have seemed like houses for giants with me dragging a stool around wherever I go, but this one is just my size! I feel like goldilocks.
The girls were so excited by this first house that they were jumping up and down and telling me to call daddy and tell him that we had found "the perfect house". I asked them to stop so that I could see the house myself and concentrate on it's features. I could barely contain them so that we would not be embarrassed in front of the realtors and the homes owner. Talk about losing negotiating power! If he knows that we LOVE the house then he may not be willing to negotiate the price and we really do need him to negotiate since it is 250 euro's per month over our budget!
So, we shook hands and left the cute and charming house and were on to the rest. While we did see many nice and even cute houses, the first house remained number one in all of our minds until the end of the day. We were taken to this really neat farm that was from the 1800's. The owner had taken the barn buildings and converted them into houses/apartments. It was like walking into a fairytale setting. The long tree lined cobblestone drive opening up through a brick arched wooden gate. You are then in a courtyard surronded with trees and the sun was shining and the birds were singing and we were taken in by the entire view! We then approached the unit that was for rent and it was white painted brick with ivy hanging on it and a huge arched window. I just can't tell you how cute and quaint the whole thing was, again the girls were going crazy and I felt like my head was spinning. We looked out the many windows to the back and it was a pasture with horses roaming around and a pear tree grove to the right, just enchanting. Then I asked the BIG question, "what about storage and parking"? Well, the unit came with a parking space and we could keep our bicycles and other belongings in the basement of the barn. Yes, I said BARN, dirty, smelling, open to everyone and yes, I am sure many bugs and in the winter MICE! I was still taken with the idea of this until I came to my senses and thought about the possibility of mice getting into my Christmas decorations and hand-me-down clothes. I quickly nixed the idea/fantasy of the FARM!
After two days of house hunting and looking at approximately 25 homes we decided on THE FIRST HOUSE! The girls were squealing with excitement(see pictures above)when I told them that I had negotiated the price and we had gotten their "favorite" house in Overijse. As I write this blog, it is now one week later and Stig just signed the lease on our new home. We are all very excited to get settled in to our new home in Belgium.
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